Category: Tanzania

It’s been a couple of weeks since we left Tanzania, and we’ve finally got our pictures in order.

As we planned our trip to Africa, we were looking at a number of different countries as options – South Africa, Botswana and Tanzania.  Though we haven’t visited the other countries on that list, we’re really happy with our choice.  The great plains of Tanzania were just as spectacular as we ever could have imagined.  We also decided to visit in mid-March, which many travel blogs/tour companies will have you believe is a bad time to visit due to it being the start of the rainy season.  Maybe we got lucky, but after experiencing the country in the rainy season I would definitely recommend that others see it at this time.  There was minimal rain, it was almost all sun all the time with only a couple of showers during our visit.  Most of the tourists had left the country, so we were the only guests at many of the hotels we visited.  As you’ll see below, despite claims that it’s hard to spot animals in rainy season, they were everywhere, and easily visible.  We also got to experience a green savannah rather than the normal dusty brown.

We visited three parks during our Safari.  The trip began in Tarangire park, where we saw a ton of elephants – they are not shy and walk right up to the vehicle.  Next we went to Ngorongoro crater, followed by Ndutu in Nogorongoro park, and finally made our way to the Serengeti.  The ability to go off-road in Ngorongoro park and get up close with all of the animals, and the fact that the wildebeest migration was taking place in Ndutu at this time made it the most enjoyable portion.  When I pictured a safari in my mind before experiencing it, I thought you would have to drive for 10 minutes before spotting an animal in the distance. In reality, in Ndutu, we saw animals up close at every turn and even caught a cheetah hunting a young wildebeest.

We need to give a big shout out to the tour company we booked our trip with – Amani Afrika.  They are a small local tour company run by a husband and wife team, and their personal touch and professionalism could be felt throughout the trip.  We also need to thank and recognize our tour guide George.  George was an absolute professional; hearing him speak about the animals was like watching a planet earth documentary and his ability to spot animals in the distance was unbelievable.  If you’re thinking about booking a safari, a great guide is what will make or break your trip, so make sure you get a good one.

Simba – Actually means lion in Swahili

Elephants in Tarangire

Looking out over Tarangire from our room

Ngorongoro crater from above

In the crater

The people killers – most dangerous animal in the park

Borrowing some tribal garb

Wildebeest migration in Ndutu

Driving through Ndutu, wide open as far as the eye can see

This poor guy was inujured in a fight

Mondays…

Hyena

Warthog

Leopard siting

We saw the whole thing, from stalking, to chase, to kill, to lunch time

It’s Monday and I head out with George to do some shopping at a local supermarket to grab snacks for the upcoming week, while Debbie rests at the hotel.

George continues his overview of Tanzania from the previous night.  I am struck by one of the themes that quickly emerges.

Having never set foot on African soil before, my opinions of the continent to-date have been formed by the numerous wildlife and cultural documentaries that I’ve watched, and the limited media exposure that we receive in Canada.  Even though I should know better, part of me was hoping to find the Africa of the early 20th century, with colourful dress and a myriad of vibrant cultures untouched by Western influence. But as I drive through Arusha and talk to George, what I find is a society that is rapidly modernizing and struggling to maintain its traditional cultures.

MPESA and a million other PESA (Swahili for money) companies that operate as de facto banks in the country dot the streets and represent the changing face of the country.  I ask George about how he’s seen the country change in his lifetime, and how this compares to the experience of his parents and grandparents. He tells me that up until the 80’s women didn’t wear trousers, but as TV became commonplace in the nation women began to demand their right to pants.  He also speaks of the cheap $10 feature phones and $40 smartphones flooding in from China, that caters to those with lower income in the country. Cleary, these changes are positive for most Tanzanians.

However, along with modernization comes the loss of age-old traditions.  George is clearly a modernist, and laments some of the traditional tribal practices that continue in the country.  Having grown up in a small village himself, he talks of many of the negative tribal practices that we’ve heard about in the west.  As he talks about the Massai, he provides a different view from the glorified portrayal I’ve seen in many movies. The society he speaks of, is highly patriarchal and polygamist, with forced marriages for girls as young as 10.  A society that in many ways is resistant to progress and still practices ineffective traditional medicine that result in many deaths per year. He seems uninterested in hanging on to most of Tanzania’s tribal traditions.

Another guide we meet, Saleh, has a different view.  He comes from a different tribe who are known as farmers, with vastly different traditions from the Massai.  His tribe is less patriarchal with each man taking only one wife. Saleh’s views on modernization more closely align with my own; the need to respect and keep the positive and important traditions within one’s culture while evolving those that are outdated.  Farming with his parents in the morning, and then acting as a tour guide in the evening so that he can one day open up an ecotourism business that will expose his tribe’s practices to tourists – he is a living example of achieving this balance.

This struggle between modernism and traditional beliefs and culture strikes a chord with me.  Obviously I want to see progress in my own society, and take advantage of all of the benefits that entails, but I am also saddened to think about living in a world that seems to be becoming more and more culturally homogeneous and westernized, when it is our differences that makes the world an interesting place to me.  If there’s anything I’ve taken away from Africa, its the strengthening of my desire to retain my family and cultural traditions while keeping up with the changes of the modern world. If I’m lucky, maybe the world will take a similar course.

After more than a year of planning for our 4-month world trip it is finally time for us to grab our bags and head to the airport.  It all feels surreal; as if we are only leaving on a normal week-long beach vacation. Despite the planning we don’t really know what the next few months will entail.  Will it be a life-altering journey that takes us through three continents or will it just be an extended vacation that we cut short for one reason or another? With these thoughts in mind, we scramble out of the house and rush to the airport to catch our flight to Arusha via Istanbul.

The 10-hour, red-eye flight to Istanbul with Turkish airlines drags on as our neighbours on the flight yack away throughout the night.  An intoxicated and boisterous American woman, keeps asking the stewardess for more Turkish wine, while a retirement-aged Persian man debates the politics and culture  of the middle east with a young Egyptian. We are grateful for the small flight kit and earplugs provided by Turkish airlines.

The arrivals section of the Istanbul airport is dilapidated and looks a bit like Newark, but as we cross-over to the departures section, a modern terminal appears, replete with tons of great Turkish food options.  We sit down and have a quick bit of falafel and bunch of different salads before we board the flight to Tanzania.

When we arrive in Arusha, we are greeted by George, our friendly guide for the duration of our stay in Tanzania.  He drops us off at our hotel, the Zawati house, for some much-needed R&R before we begin our safari. We can’t wait!